Friday is the longest day of the year. (OK, technically, the longest day started on Thursday night.) But no need to feel all deflated once it’s over: you still have the supermoon to look forward to. That’s when the full moon is especially close to the Earth. And it’s coming this weekend.
EarthSky explains astronomers call this a perigee full moon, which, granted, sounds less dramatic. Whatever you want to call it, it will be full, and it will be close.
SPACE.com has more details.
Supermoon Rises in Weekend Night Sky SundaySunday’s lunar perigee will be the moon’s closest to Earth of 2013. And 32 minutes later, the moon will officially turn full. The close timing of the moon’s perigee and its full phase are what will bring about the biggest full moon of the year, a celestial event popularly defined by some as a “supermoon.”
Meanwhile, over at Slate, Bad Astronomer says the supermoon is all hype.
This Month’s Full Moon Will Be Cool, But Not SuperOh, is it that time again? The time for everyone to overhype the “Supermoon”? Yup. You’ve probably heard about this: on June 23, the full Moon will be the biggest and brightest of the year, so it’s called the Supermoon. Let me be clear: While this is technically true, you’d never notice the difference in size or brightness by eye.
But still — in case you need one — it seems like a good enough excuse to get outside Sunday night and look up.